Roche sells vitamins to DSM
3 Sep 2002
Dutch Life Science and Performance Materials (DSM) intends to acquire Roche's Vitamins and Fine Chemicals Division for 2.25 billion Euros.
The Roche division, which helped pioneer the industrial synthesis of vitamin C in 1934, is the world's leading supplier of vitamins and carotenoids with annual sales of 3.5 billion Swiss francs (2.4 billion Euros). The division, which will become a unit of DSM, is headquartered in Kaiseraugst, Switzerland and employs some 7,500 people.
In the first half 2002, the Vitamin and Fine Chemicals Division achieved sales of 1,747 billion Swiss francs, an EBITDA of 256 million Swiss francs and an operating profit of 140 million Swiss francs.
Last November, the European Commission issued fines against 8 producers of bulk vitamins, including Roche, for fixing the prices of vitamins. The total fine was 855 million Euros, of which Roche was fined 462 million Euros. If the acquisition is approved by anti-trust authorities, the present and future liabilities from the vitamin price fixing affair will remain with Roche.
